soned, are also paraded. As part of the fun
and the purification ceremonies, everybody
splashes everybody else with water. We tried
in vain to dodge these dousings; I carried
my camera wrapped in a shower cap.
The king himself or, if his health does not
permit, Crown Prince Savang Vatthana, pours
water from a silver bowl over statues of the
Buddha at several temples, while the priests
perform the same rite at others.
The historic gold Prabang (page 65), the
most sacred Buddhist statue in the kingdom,
is taken from the palace to Wat Mai, where
it, too, is ceremonially sprinkled by the king
or crown prince. It is carried in a lavishly
decorated gilt palanquin by bearers in strange,
ancient-style scarlet uniforms, and accom
panied by royal guards in scarlet and white.
The high point of the celebrations, of
course, is the formal soiree at the palace.
An official of the royal household greeted us
at the palace gate and escorted us to the
garden, where the crown prince and princess
stood to receive their guests.
We enjoyed a superb buffet supper at which
the rice was served in traditional covered
baskets. As did everyone else. we plunged in
a hand, scooped up wads of sticky rice,
squeezed them into rolls or balls, and dipped
them into one of the murderously hot Lao
sauces or in nam pa, fish sauce.
Bamboo Canes Forecast Future
Afterward we adjourned to the palace ve
randa. Before us, on the broad, lighted ter
race, a huge square of linoleum waited for the
barefoot dancers. In the warm dusk all eyes
were turned on the Phousi, whose steep slope
faces the palace. In former years it was the
custom for the naga, the sacred serpent, to
appear in the form of a long line of children
winding down the hill bearing torches.
This time the format was changed. Out of
the darkness came a three-headed elephant,
led and followed by the children, to make a
bow before the royal audience. I had seen
this beast in the temple grounds the day be
fore-an enormous stuffed model.
How the youngsters managed him I do not
know. But suddenly there he was. And
there they were, in their beautiful handwoven
silk costumes, dropping to their knees and
bowing their little foreheads to the ground
before the crown prince who acknowledged
their homage. A long and fascinating pro
gram of classical dancing followed.
Visitors who have stayed awhile in Laos
usually take away with them a handful of
Dropping their bundles, Akha wayfarers call
strangely marked bamboo sticks, or canes,
processed in only two Lao villages in the
province of Sayaboury.
Women cut and dry a particular type of
slender bamboo. Men letter and print de
signs and animals on the skin of a banana
plant, dip this in a saltpeter solution, and
wrap it around the cane. It is then dried